Always and Forever.

Chapter Eleven: Lucky Escape Part Two

"You have no idea, Arlet," Mikasa says. She remembers the note she swiped and some of the research she did instead of revising.

Armin closes his textbook and slides it to Mikasa. "How about, after the test if he doesn't show, we head to his place. His mom will be at work so hopefully, he is in."

"What about the rest of the school day?"

"What about it? We're finished for today after our exam so we are free to go home. You're really out of the loop, huh. Best give that a quick read. You don't want the chief on your case and you definitely do not want Mr Ackerman chasing you up." Armin says gesturing to the textbook. Mikasa starts skimming through. Topic by topic. Not all of it makes sense but she understands the fundamentals well enough. Let's just hope it is enough.

                    The students make their way to their allocated seats in the sports hall. An old, grey carpet covering the hardcourt. Principle Erwin goes through his traditional pre-exam speech to encourage and advice the students gathered in front of him. Levi stands quietly next to him. He doesn't want to be there. His sunken tired expression makes that super clear. To be fair, the students feel the same way. Both only there because they have to be. Mikasa and Armin's seats are not too far away from each other's since their surnames both start with 'A'. Their gazes both focused on the empty desk on the opposite side of the room to them.

"Your time starts now," Principle Erwin's voice echoes across the hall. The sound of turning paper and pens clicking bounces around before silence falls on the room again. Mikasa and Armin try to push their theories of where Eren is to one side. They need to concentrate on the paper. Especially Mikasa. She isn't exactly firing on all cylinders thanks to her lack of sleep and if she fails her dad and uncle will both me on her. Still, she has a bad feeling about something. And it isn't the constant tick-tock of the analogue clock staring her down.

                    "Oh, man! That was soooo hard!" Connie cries. "Mr Ackerman is going to kill me." He shudders at the very thought of cleaning detentions for the rest of eternity.

Sasha approaches him from behind and grabs him giving him the jumps. "Quick, what did you get for questions seventeen!?" She yells.

"Which one was that!?" Connie yells back.

"The one with the triangles and the circle where you have to do the thing to work out the other thing." Sasha draws shapes in the air demonstrating what she is talking about. It's just a series of frantic finger wags. Yet, Connie understands exactly what she is talking about.

"Ooh, that one." He loosens Sasha's grip and smugly smiles. "This genius got 45.6."

"WHAT!?" Sasha yells.

"WHAT!?" Connie yells back. (De Ja Vu am I right?)

Sasha drops to her knees. "I got 47. Y-you must have got it wrong!" She accusingly points at Connie.

"No way! You must've got it wrong! I triple check my answer. Twice!" Connie replies. They both angrily stare at each other before simultaneously turning their backs on each other. Their arms crossed, eyes closed and noses turned up.

"Actually, you both got it wrong," Mikasa says joining her friends after finally being dismissed from the sports hall. "The answer was 50. And keep it down. You can hear you guys in there and Shadis is losing it."

"Ha! I was closer Avatar Aang wannabe."

"W-whatever Potato Girl! You still got it wrong!"

"Hmph," they both grunt. Once again in perfect sync.

"Finally," Armin says making his way through the sports hall doors stretching. He approaches Mikasa and rests and arm on her shoulder. "You ready to go?"